Robert Johnson

Robert Charles Johnson was the third principal of A. H. Parker High School.

Johnson was promoted to principal in January 1947 after the death of W. B. Johnson. He oversaw the addition of a guidance program and the first accreditation of the school by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1953. Johnson believed firmly that the best opportunities for African Americans were rooted in education.

During the Spring 1963 Birmingham Campaign at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Johnson warned students not to join in the demonstrations, emphasizing the Birmingham Board of Education's threat of automatic expulsion for unauthorized absences. Nevertheless, when the SCLC's James Bevel organized a Children's Crusade to fill the jails on May 6, nearly a fourth of the student body left classes to participate, chanting "Gotta go, Mr Johnson, gotta go!".

Johnson also began planning for the new building which was completed after his retirement, due to illness, in 1969.

Johnson and his wife, Mildred, had two daughters. The older daughter, Alma, became a speech pathologist and married future Secretary of State Colin Powell.

References

• Huntley, Horace and John W. McKerley, eds. (2009) Foot Soldiers for Democracy: The Men, Women, and Children of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press ISBN 9780252076688